However, what they feared was exactly what happened.
They had just walked a little over ten meters from the restroom entrance.
"ROAR!!!"
A roar filled with savagery and hunger suddenly erupted from the corner ahead. A massive dark-green figure lunged out from around it!
Two more followed close behind.
Three pairs of blood-red wolf eyes locked onto them. Exposed, jagged fangs and enormous bodies covered in dark-green scales—all of it brought an overwhelming sense of oppression.
They were Corrosive Abyssal Wolves!
They had clearly killed all the living people downstairs, then been drawn upstairs by the voices and commotion.
Now that they had spotted living prey, the leading Corrosive Abyssal Wolf slammed its powerful hind legs against the ground. With a gust of rancid wind, it lunged straight at Lin Yi, who had already moved to the front of the group.
Its gleaming foreclaws tore through the air as they slashed viciously toward Lin Yi's chest. At the same time, its scorpion-like bony tail whipped around sharply.
Pfft!
A glob of dark-green corrosive fluid, reeking of acid, shot toward the female office worker behind Lin Yi, who was already screaming in terror.
"Look out!"
Lin Yi's expression changed. He seemed flustered by the sudden double attack.
Almost purely on instinct, he stepped awkwardly to the right. At the same time, he put all his strength into kicking the side of the terrified woman's bottom.
"Ow!"
The kick sent the woman sprawling sideways, and she narrowly avoided the glob of corrosive fluid.
The liquid splattered onto the carpet where she had been standing, sizzling as it instantly ate through the fabric and left a charred, black crater.
But that sidestep and kick also left Lin Yi completely exposed to the first Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's attack.
Its bone-white fangs and scaled claws were already right in front of him. It was far too late to dodge or block.
"Ugh!"
Lin Yi acted as though he was frozen with fear. He managed only a brief cry of alarm before instinctively raising his armored left arm to shield himself, while stumbling backward in an attempt to put some distance between them.
"Riiip!"
A harsh metallic tearing sound rang out. The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's sharp claws raked across the armor on Lin Yi's left arm and chest, ripping several vicious gouges into the sturdy titanium alloy.
The tremendous force made Lin Yi grunt. He staggered backward several steps and nearly fell.
Without the armor, that one swipe would have ripped him open.
"Ah! Die!"
A ruthless look flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, as if the attack had enraged him.
Using the momentum of his retreat, he barely managed to steady himself. He gripped the long staff with both hands and, relying on nothing but brute strength from his hips and legs, swung upward in a powerful horizontal strike at the relatively soft flank of the Abyss Wolf. It had landed after missing its pounce and was about to lunge again.
Thud!
The staff struck the Corrosive Abyssal Wolf squarely in the ribs. The muffled crack of its scales breaking came at the same time as the unmistakable sound of bones snapping.
"Awoo!"
The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf let out a pained howl and was sent flying sideways by the heavy blow.
It slammed into the wall, then slid limply to the floor. It was clearly dead.
Lin Yi panted heavily. Waves of pain and numbness spread through his left arm, and the claw marks on his armor were horrifying to behold.
The hand gripping his staff trembled slightly, as though he still hadn't recovered from the close call.
But the danger came one after another!
The second Corrosive Abyssal Wolf gave him no time to catch his breath. Seizing the moment when Lin Yi's strength had just ebbed and he was still off balance, it darted in from the flank like a ghost. Its gaping jaws, accompanied by a gust of rancid breath, snapped toward the junction of Lin Yi's right shoulder and neck—a spot exposed when he swung his staff and not fully covered by his armor.
"Brother!"
Zhou Mengmeng couldn't help letting out a terrified scream.
As death's shadow loomed over him once again, Lin Yi's pupils contracted sharply, and his face filled with "horror."
He seemed completely unable to dodge or block.
Yet at the critical moment, he seemed to summon the reckless resolve of a young man driven into a corner.
Lin Yi didn't retreat again. Instead, he gritted his teeth and made a desperate move.
He charged forward instead of backing away!
He abruptly leaned his upper body to the left. Gripping the middle of the staff with both hands, he stopped swinging it and used it like an enormous short spear. With all his strength, he thrust it upward into the second Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's open, fang-filled maw as it lunged at him.
"Die!"
Crunch—squelch!
The end of the staff, driven by all of Lin Yi's strength, rammed into the depths of the Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's mouth like a battering ram.
It shattered the fangs, pierced the roof of its mouth, and plunged into its brain.
"Urrgh..."
The second Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's lunge froze in midair. Its blood-red eyes bulged wide.
Viscous blood mixed with splintered bone gushed from its mouth. Its massive body seemed to have been frozen in place before crashing heavily to the ground, right beside Lin Yi's feet.
Then, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The bodies of the two Corrosive Abyssal Wolves on the ground suddenly crumbled and disintegrated without a sound, like paper figures cast into an invisible fire. Before their eyes, they turned into countless fine, dark-gray particles like dust.
Rustle. Rustle...
The ashes drifted down onto the carpet in an eerily silent dance, as though the physical forms of the two monsters that had brought such terror and death were being rapidly erased by some unseen law.
Amid the silent drift of ashes, at the center of where the two Corrosive Abyssal Wolves had vanished, a faint glimmer appeared soundlessly.
It wasn't a dazzling light, but a hazy gray glow, as if it had condensed from the embers of death—a gray speck of light!
It hovered several dozen centimeters above the ground, about the size of a fingertip. Like the highly concentrated core of some otherworldly crystal, it pulsed slowly and irregularly with a faint light, each flicker silently proclaiming the gathering of energy and the alteration of the rules.
Lin Yi's heart stirred.
A gray Spirit Radiance Crystal!
However, although the thing he needed most in the early stages was right within reach, Lin Yi couldn't spare a thought for picking it up.
He took several deep breaths, held his staff in both hands, and kept his eyes fixed on the last Corrosive Abyssal Wolf.
The first two Corrosive Abyssal Wolves had died so quickly that, by the time the third one—which had lagged a little behind—finally reached them, the others were still catching up.
But it didn't attack right away. It dug in its feet and stopped several meters in front of Lin Yi.
The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf stared fixedly at Lin Yi with its blood-red eyes. Then it looked over the claw marks on his armor, before finally turning its gaze to the ashes of its kin. A low whine of apprehension rumbled in its throat.
Then it lowered its body and slowly backed away.
It retreated all the way to the corner of the stairwell. After one last resentful glance at the panting Lin Yi, it whirled around and disappeared into the darkness.
Then—
"Awoo... Awoo..."
A long, mournful howl suddenly rang out from downstairs.
I used to write historical fiction, and since this time I'm switching to sci-fi, I'm honestly not very confident. I hope you readers will give me plenty of advice. If you find anything off-putting, please feel free to point it out. And while this story's still new, toss me some votes to help it grow!
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